Meneses three-peats for IL honor

First baseman Joey Meneses bats for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on June 14, 2018. (Photo by Cheryl Pursell)h

For the third time this season, IronPigs’ infielder Joey Meneses has been named International League Batter of the Week – becoming the first IronPigs player all-time to win three weekly honors in one season. He also becomes the first player in the IL to capture a weekly award three times in a season since pitcher Carlos Torres of Charlotte in 2010 and and the first batter to do so since Fernando Seguignol of Columbus in 2003.

Meneses also joins Andy Tracy as the only other Lehigh Valley player to earn this honor three times in an IronPigs career.

Meneses hit safely in seven of eight games played from July 30th through August 5th, batting .400 (12-for-30) with four home runs while leading the league in RBI (11), runs scored (7) and total bases (25).

Earlier, Meneses received IL Batter of the Week honors for the week of April 30th through May 6th, when he posted an IL-best .520 average (13-for-25) with two home runs and eight RBI; and again for the week of May 14-20 after hitting an IL-best .478 (11-for-23) with four home runs and eight RBI.

Signed by the Phillies as a minor league free agent in January, Meneses currently leads the IL in HR (21), RBI (71), total bases (213), slugging percentage (.546) and OPS (.914) while ranking second in AVG (.318) and hits (124).

The native of Culiacan, Mexico, has a realistic shot of becoming the first player in the IL to win a Triple Crown – leading the league in AVG, HR and RBI – since Hall-of-Famer Jim Rice with Pawtucket in 1974. In fact, there have only been six players to win a Triple Crown in the 135-year history of the IL (Rocky Nelson was the only player to accomplish twice; 1955 with Montreal, 1958 with Toledo).